Theo Walcott: Finally Arrived?

Amazingly still only at 23-years old, a player that seems to have been around for ages, he arrived at Arsenal on Jan 20^th 2005 with the next potential superstar tag dangling from his neck like a very heavy-lead weight, To say it’s not been easy for him is an understatement.

Let’s keep this simple – he’s played some truly outstanding games, scoring goals and destroying full backs. He has admittedly struggled with consistency, and their has always been this air about him as if something was missing. A football brain, some say. Or a sheer lack of football know-how, say others. A bit of both, I think, but definitely something wasn’t clicking. Maybe we were just expecting too much too soon from a young kid at a such huge football club.

Slowly he improved every season early in his career, playing with players like Thierry Henry and Robin van Persie, and was taken under Wenger’s wing. The “Professeur” taught and guided him on the right football path. Yes it’s taken time, but patience it seems might finally be paying off in spades at a time when “results now” rules the day in modern football, both for Arsenal and England.

Everyone knows Walcott’s main asset is his splintering pace – it’s more like sprinter speed. Pep Guardiola once said, “you would need a pistol to stop him”. Sure, it’s taken a while for him to realize when it can be most productively used for the benefit of the team; going too early and being caught offside, or getting ahead of the play with no one there fast enough to keep up with him. Sure it’s taken time, but in the last few (12) months he really has developed his game, thus becoming a potent threat for club and country. Defenders are scared of him, because as we know speed kills his like a Ferrari against a Skoda. Once he goes, he’s gone, and I really believe not a defender playing can keep strides when he does so.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has sometimes chosen to play him through the middle as a main striker this season, which is something Theo has vocalized for a while now. Walcott has taken this in his stride and proved himself a proper finisher with both feet. He’s a natural in front of goal, a talent you cannot teach – only the top class players have that kind of scoring ability. Another part of his game to have blossomed greatly is the assists. With already 11 this season (and many last year in setting up RvP), his crossing to players like Oliver Giroud has been a top quality service, the kind a striker loves. It’s like being put on a serving plate, making it virtually impossible to miss in some cases.

Since signing his future to Arsenal for the next 3 and half years, it’s like a weight has come off his shoulders. He is playing with newly released freedom that has definitely made him calmer and relaxed on the ball instead of in previous times in his career when he rushed or played lazy passes with little purpose. He has added extra strength and is definitely unafraid to get stuck in against tough Premiership sides, like Stoke last week for example. He seemed to enjoy the hard tackles and rough treatment, just getting back up and going back to work as per usual.

He’s clearly enjoying football and it’s a great sight to see. In life you have to give credit where it’s due, and Theo Walcott deserves a great deal of respect. He is evolving into the finished football product, the one Arsenal management and supporters have been hoping was hidden under his slender frame from the moment he burst on to the football scene. He really could turn into a high class footballer that for once (doesn’t happen often) the media hype will be backed-up by substance on the pitch.